Triple X Wrestling: King of the Royal Summer Mania Series

After missing the June show due to being on holiday, it felt good to get back to another Triple X show. There was a decent sized, pretty vociferous crowd on hand for what turned out to be another really fun show

Dave Mercy vs Local Jobber #2
Super fun opener. Mercy wasn't scheduled to wrestle because, as host Omer Ibrahim advised, no-one wants to get in the ring with him. Even the Jobber seemed pretty reluctant to tangle with the sleazy Mercy, though he actually got a fair run of offence here. Due to Mercy's trunks being pulled down, we saw more of his backside than we would really want to, though not as much as Jobber, who got a horrifying closeup with his sunset flip. Despite Mercy taking control, Jobbermania soon ran wild as LJ2 Hulked up, and hit a big boot and legdrop for a two count. Sadly, his run was short-lived, as Mercy rolled him up with a handful of tights to win.

Keiron Young vs Chase Alexander
Alexander is the former Local Jobber #1 and is accompanied by the former Professor Lex. His new gimmick is that of a former child star, with Lex pretty fun as his entourage. I liked Young's series of dives he hit early doors, starting by going between the middle and bottom ropes, then the top and middle, then finally over the top. He's still the "Indy Guy", so this fits his character perfectly. Alexander worked over the leg to take control, with a decent bridging leglock. Young made his comeback and got a two count from the ever-so-indy combo of a Canadian Destroyer and a superkick before a distraction by Lex allowed Alexander to take his leg out and grab the pinfall victory. Both guys worked hard, despite being a little green, and luckily their characters and antics kept the crowd entertained.

Morgan Webster vs Mike Bird
The storyline logic behind this match was that Triple X were fed up of Webster, so brought in his trainer Mike Bird to teach him some respect. I mentioned this in my last HOPE review, but Webster is absolutely great at making me hate him. Seeing him here, sunglasses on indoors with a surly face just made me want to see someone give him a smack. Thankfully, Bird was on hand to smack the shit out of him, as he treated Webster to a series of chops in the ring. I'd enjoyed Bird's previous appearance at the April show, and he was really good here, just seeming really natural and comfortable in the ring. I liked the long heat section Webster worked on Bird, before Bird was able to come back and tie up his former student with an STF that had me believing Webster would tap. He didn't and in fact managed to pick up the win by faking injury, then grabbing Bird into a guillotine choke that he calls the Strangler (as I l found out on Twitter).

The Hunter Brothers vs Chris Brookes & Tyler Bate
Last Sunday, after seeing them have back-to-back great matches for Southside Wrestling vs the Young Wolves and Flip & Forearms, I excitedly took to Twitter and proclaimed the Hunters the best tag-team in the UK. This match backed up that claim, as this was another excellent bout. However, whilst the two Southside matches saw them work as fast-paced, high-flying faces, here the Hunters showed how good they are as heels too, keeping Chris Brookes isolated as face-in-peril, cutting him off and being generally unlikable. There were some really fun moments in this match: I loved Brookes scurrying along the piping that hangs from the Club M ceiling to crashland on his opponents below outside the ring (which apparently played off his match at the June show), and Bate showed off his remarkable strength by hitting a giant swing on one Hunter whilst giving the other an airplane spin at the same time. Bate nailing a big boot in the corner with a cry of "This is Sparta" was great too. The end saw a Hunter grabbing a wrench outside the ring but, whilst he remonstrated with the ref, Brookes' attempt to throw powder at the remaining brother backfired, instead hitting Bate and leaving him easy prey for a Hunter Brothers pin. Great match.

The post-match antics were fun too, with Brookes telling Bate he needed to lose his trademark moustache, or their friendship was over. Of course, the crowd weren't happy with this ultimatum, and, despite Brookes bringing out a bag of cheap disposable razors, Tyler kept the 'tasche. Brookes tried a cheapshot, but Bate instead nailed him with a massive clothesline. A chokeslam to the razor was the icing on the cake. Super fun segment.

Damian Dunne vs Gideon
This was scheduled to be Eddie Dennis taking on Damian as part of a "Pick Your Poison" deal with Damian's brother Pete. However, Dennis was injured, providing a doctors note, and instead getting his "close, personal friend" Gideon to take his place. It's always fun to see how debutants will fare at Triple X, partly to see how they cope with the (never mean-spirited) heckling from the crowd. With his bald head and bushy beard, Gideon was always going to get some piss-taking (I enjoyed the "Uncle Albert" chants especially), and he coped well with it. A chant of "He's got his head on upside down" was greeted by Gideon replying "You want his head on upside down?" and neckcranking Dunne. The match itself was plenty fun, with some nice looking offence from both. I dug Gideon greeting a suicide dive attempt with a big kick to the face, which meant that Damo nailing the same move later in the match got a big cheer. Dunne picked up the win after a low-blow by Gideon, and Eddie Dennis helped lay in a beating until Pete Dunne turned up for the save.

The New Henchmen (Jim Diehard & Rob Terry) vs Titans of Terror (Big Grizzly & Scott Grimm)
When I saw this match advertised in the build-up, I knew exactly what I wanted from it - the spectacle of four massive guys nailing each other with fun power offence. It didn't disappoint. I will forever love Jim Diehard hitting moves that a man his size rarely tries, flipping both Grizz and Grimm over with a headlock/headscissors and nailing a Shining Wizard later in the bout. Likewise, Grizzly hit a big dropkick on Diehard ("You weren't expecting that, were you?") and a big cannonball in the corner. I liked the fact that the big moves were built up to mean something, with a Rob Terry slam on Grimm getting a huge reaction. The New Henchmen won after a Diehard sitout powerbomb on Grizzly, and this was a highly entertaining match. After all, with all due respect, what was the last Rob Terry match you saw get a "This is awesome!" chant?

Pete Dunne vs Doug Williams
Williams was Eddie Dennis' choice to fight the number one contender to his Triple X title. Williams cheap-shotted Dunne to kick off, but this soon developed into a fine technical affair. Williams was dominant on the mat in the early going, which makes sense given his experience advantage, but Dunne was able to get back into it with some tough-looking strikes, and locked in a cloverleaf for a near tap. Dennis distracted Dunne mid-match, and Williams attacked from behind to fully complete his heel turn. Despite this, Dunne was able to pick up the victory. as Dennis lambasted Williams after a two count, and this distraction allowed Dunne to get a roll-up for the victory. After the match, Williams and Dennis put the boots to Pete, until brother Damian came in to make the save. Pete seemed a little put out that Damo didn't make the save sooner, but they left united. Fine main event, and I liked the way that Williams' initial superiority made Dunne look even better when he was able to fire back and take over himself.

Triple X Wrestling Wrestle*****

Taking place on the same night as a mildly more famous WWE events, Wrestle***** (which we were to find out stood for "WrestleCunts" was possibly the best top to bottom Triple X show I've been to since I started going last February. Sadly, my run will be ending in June, as their show headlined by Zack Sabre Jr vs Low Ki clashes with my holiday (and trust me, I've been trying to work out ways to get back for this...), but in the meantime, here's some words on the WrestleCunts

Dave Mercy vs Terry Seddon
Seddon is currently billed as "Inbetween Gimmicks" after ditching his zombie slayer persona. This was a pretty fun opening bout, with the sexual antics of Mercy (the "Sleazy Bastard") providing a good few laughs. I loved him hitting a Northern Lights suplex, then getting angry with the ref because he'd only gotten 2, despite using an actual wrestling move. He also went for a super sexual version of Sister Abigail. Seddon was coming back into the match, but a low blow gave Mercy the win.

Keiron Young vs Scotty Essex
Scotty Essex, as his name suggests, is a permatanned goon a la TOWIE and other programmes of that ilk. His look is pretty much "rich man's Danny Doring". Young is billed as "Indy Guy", which led to the crowd singing the Indiana Jones theme in his support. This was pretty fun, albeit spotty in places. Both guys only debuted at the last show, so the fact KY opened the match with three dives (after Essex refused to get in the ring) helped warm the crowd up for them. Essex had some nice moves here, with a meaty looking Death Valley Driver being the pick of the bunch. Young got a two count from a Canadian Destroyer followed by a superkick (Indy!) but Essex got the win with a crafty roll-up and handful of tights.

Big Grizzly & Scott Grimm vs Local Jobber #2
This was supposed to be Flash Morgan Webster taking on the two big chaps, simply because Triple X management hate him. However, it was revealed via big screen video that Webster was in New Orleans for WrestleMania, having taken his paycheck and run. Of course, this didn't sit well with the "Two Big Bastards", with Grizzly demanding an opponent. Out came the ever-popular Local Jobber #2, who got flattened in less than two minutes, culminating with a double-team pedigree. A mysterious hooded figure, who turned out to be Gabriel Grey, watched on from the stage, seemingly managing the team of Grimm and Grizz. I'm assuming there is going to be a tag war with the Henchmen at some point, which I can only imagine will be great.

The Henchmen vs The Hunters Brothers
This was the third successive clash between these two teams, this time being a bar-room brawl, essentially fought under last team standing rules. Both teams came dressed to fight, and it was the larger Henchmen who took control at first, brawling with the Hunters all over Club M, but primarily at the bar area. There was a fun mid-match spot involving all four wrestler drinking whiskey, at which point they all passed out from excessive consumption. The Hunters then got a chance to dominate, levelling the Henchmen with chairs (and causing Benton Destruction in particular to bleed heavily), before ultimately the Henchmen finally settled the feud with Jim Diehard throwing one Hunter onto his brother from the bar area to the floor, and the Hunters were unable to meet the count. Maybe not quite as good as last months epic tables match, but still a thoroughly entertaining brawl, and one that was eaten up by the crowd. Plus, how rad were Jim Diehard's cowboy boots!?!

Doug Williams vs Tyler Bate
One of the big success stories in Triple X in the past 12 months has been the rise of Tyler Bate, who keeps getting better show by show, looking like he belongs with the bigger names that he's been put up against. He's been so impressive, it's easy to forget that he's not picked up a win yet since his debut, yet remains massively over with the crowd. Here, he took on one of the biggest names in BritWres and the result was another terrific match. His style gelled perfectly with Williams, as both guys like to work the mat, throw in cutesy spots (there was a repeated criss-cross section here that was a lot of fun) and hit a nice suplex or two, and this was a really good bout. The story here was that the younger, less experienced Bate was having to struggle to keep up with Doug, but was growing into the match as it progressed. Bate managed to block the Chaos Theory and hit his ever-impressive deadlift German suplex for a very close two, but ultimately Williams was able to tie him up for the three count. Another top performance by Bate, who must be the most promising young wrestler in the UK at the moment.

Joe Coffey vs Damian Dunne
Coffey is fast becoming a highlight of Triple X shows. He's clearly not afraid to be the heel, riling the crowd up something chronic here. Coffey is a big guy, and used this to dominate the smaller Dunne. Given the relative size difference, they did well to make the match look competitive, with Damo using his speed advantage to keep up. The crowd were fantastic here too, with a burst of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" designed to motivate Dunne against the big Scot, but in the end Dunne was forced to tap out to a Boston crab. Really good match.

Damian O'Connor vs Mike Bird
O'Connor was apparently part of the first run of Triple X, but this was my first time seeing him, and he was a pretty impressive sight, built like a brick wall with a mighty looking beard. Bird was quite likably funny and, despite being billed as "Flying" Mike Bird, he used some fun matwork to down O'Connor in the early stages. I really liked a good chunk of O'Connor's offence, with a cannonball to the barrier outside looking particularly nasty. O'Connor won a good match with an electric chair into a sitout driver (I'm sure there's a better name for it, but that's the best I could do)

Eddie Dennis vs Devilman
This was chaotic, but really fun chaotic. Dennis was hilarious here, cutting a brilliantly indignant pre-match promo where he ranted about being labelled "Bad Wales" and having to wrestle a street fight instead of a pure wrestling match. His resigned mid-match reaction of "Oh bollocks" as he stood in the ring watching Devilman pull out a Singapore cane wrapped in a chain was great. They went all out here, which did lead to DM seemingly knocking himself loopy off a rana from the stage to the floor. Despite this, they still managed to put on a great match, fighting all over Club M. The end saw Dennis driving DM onto some lightbulb tubes on a chair, but this only got two. Dennis stayed on the offensive, repeatedly hitting DM with a chair and re-pinning him until eventually he picked up the win. I liked the ending, with the idea that it was sustained blows rather than one big move that finished off DM. Devilman looked pretty hurt post match, but eventually got up to a nice round of applause. Great match.

Triple X Wrestling: The Only Way Is SQ

Before making their debut at the Coventry Club M next month, Triple X had a show at the SQ Club last Sunday, which promised contract signings, scrambles, no holds barred matches and many more. Here's how it went...

The show started with a contract signing for the next show, where Devilman will face Majik for the Triple X title. However, Majik seemed more concerned with getting jovial MC and former wrestler Omer Ibrahim to say he respected him. Omer, however, wouldn’t back down, telling Majik he didn’t respect him, and getting in the champions face. After both Devilman and Majik signed the contract, Devilman rammed Majik’s head into the table and things looked like breaking down before the familiar ring music of Teddy Long hit over the speakers. Out came Professor Lex, who announced the four men in the ring (Devilman, Omer, Majik and his manager Gabriel Grey) would meet in the main event in a Holla Holla Tag Match. A fun start to the show. 

The Dunne Brothers vs The Hunter Brothers

This is the 3^rd show in a row for Triple X to feature some Dunne/Hunter interaction, but luckily it’s a pairing that never fails to entertain. It’s odd, the first time I saw the Hunters was as faces and, as good as they were in ring, they seemed a little bland personality wise. However, as heels they really seem to excel and they’re plenty of fun here heeling it up against the Dunnes. As the younger Dunne, it was Damo who got focused on for the heat section, which featured some quick tags and nice double teams by the Hunters. To be honest, so much happened in this match that I’m struggling to recall everything that happened, but the end was a fun series of saves and reversals which ended with Dunnes reigning triumphant. Really good opener. 

Scott Grimm vs Dave Mastiff

This is a no-holds-barred rematch from last months show. This provides a nice change of pace from the opener, as both are massive guys. They run through a long series of stalemate shoulderbarge attempts, before Grimm takes control. This wasn’t a huge war like I was expecting, but instead featured Grimm trying to wear Mastiff down with repeated blows. Mastiff’s comeback was great, as his offence always looks good. He got a real high leap on a rolling firemans carry, and he got great air on a senton as well, which only got two. Things heat up at the two fight outside and over the merch table, before Grimm steals a win back inside with a low blow. Started slowly, but this was a decent big man match. 

Mark Andrews vs Tyler Bate vs Ho Ho Lun vs Chris Brookes

Again, this was a change of pace from the previous match, advertised in advance as a “Get Your Shit In” match. It lived up to the billing as all four guys got a shitload of action into the match, with all four managing to look good here. Lun is on tour from Zero-One HK, and was bursting with physical charisma, and the fans took to him instantly. One spot, which saw him sit Bate on a chair, repeatedly asking the audience if he should take a longer run up to kick him in the face got a great response. Brooke and Bate had impressed at the last show as the SlapDash Tagteam, but they sadly had broken up here, with Brooke cheapshotting Bate after a handshake. Bate has crazy strength, here catching Andrews in mid air and planting him with a German suplex, which looked awesome. Andrews is a super-crisp high flier, and everything he did looked slick here, with a massive Asai moonsault providing the perfect punctuation to a great dive sequence by all four men. Finally, after a ton of action, Andrews pinned Brooke with a sunset-flip bomb. This was loads of fun. 

The Henchmen vs Local Jobbers

The local jobbers, who entered to “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”, are fast becoming cult favourites in Triple X, though not as much as the Henchmen, whose arrival prompts a chant of “So Fucking Hench”. This was billed as a forgone conclusion, and there was no surprise here, as the Henchmen destroyed the jobbers. At one point though, local jobber #2 gets in some offence, working over the leg of Jim Diehard...a flurry which comes to an end with a huge Diehard lariat. The Henchmen hit the Five Moves of Doom (World’s Strongest Slam, forearm, clothesline to the back of the head, gutwrench powerbomb, senton) on #2, before #1 makes the save. However, he also gets hit with the Five Moves and the jobbers get put out of their misery.  

Eddie Dennis vs Wild Boar

Dennis is also getting a good following, with yells of “Wales!” coming in support. However, it was pointed out that Boar is also Welsh, so we got chants of “Good Wales!” and “Bad Wales!” depending on who was on offence. Dennis mocked the diminutive Boar to start, and we got a nice chain wrestling sequence, which was something we’d not really seen from Dennis before. When Boar got on offence, he lived up to his name, attacking with a real feral ferocity. There was a really nice looking spot where Boar hung Dennis upside down in a tree of woe to savage him then, as Dennis tried to free himself, Boar leapt across the ring with a vicious looking diving headbutt. Dennis fired back, and nailed Boar with a powerbomb, but it only got two, before Boar finished him off with a double underhook piledriver in a good match. 

Devilman & Omer Ibrahim vs Majik & Big Grizzly

Before the match, Majik got on the mic and announced that, due to Grey being taken ill, he’d been forced to replace him with new Damned Nation member Big Grizzly, an enormous man who towered over everyone in the ring. This may not have been the slickest match of the night, but it probably featured the best story-telling and got some of the best reactions of the night. Majik is terrific at getting negative reactions from the crowd, and the segments with him and Omer got some of the best responses of the night. Omer is really popular with the crowd, so he was the sympathetic choice to play face in peril, and when he landed his first blow on Majik, it got as big a reaction as any highspot in the night. They nailed the story of the match brilliantly, and I loved little bits like Majik staring directly at Devilman on a pin attempt on Omer. A battle over a backslide between Omer and Majik got another great reaction, which proved they were doing everything right. Grizzly didn’t get to show much, but he had a great presence and every blow he landed on Omer looked like it killed him. Finally Devilman got the hot tag and cleaned house, but a pinfall attempt wasn’t spotted by the ref due to Omer and Grizzly fighting outside the ring. This allowed Wild Boar to sneak in and nail a double underhook piledriver on Devilman, but it only got two. As things broke down, Omer nailed a spear on Grizzly and Devilman finished the big guy off with a Swanton. Really satisfying main event, with everything making sense, even down to Boar’s interference leading to Omer announcing postmatch he’d face Sabu at the next show to stop him ruining the main event.

Triple X Wrestling XXXtravaganza

Despite living in Nottingham, I'm a Coventrian and it warms the very cockles of my heart that there is a promotion putting on shows regularly there. Triple X isn't your average wrestling company, putting on a product that doesn't take itself too seriously (wrestling zombies!) but does put on some great matches. The last show, Clusterfuck 2, was great, so I decided to go to this pre-Wrestlemania show. With the ever excellent Omer Ibrahim as host, this was a really enjoyable show

Scott Grimm vs Local Jobber 2

At Clusterfuck II, Grimm took on Local Jobber and pretty much destroyed him in minutes. Local Jobber#2 tries to learn from this and attacks Grimm from the bell and gets caught in a Black Hole Slam. A quick splash finishes it for Grimm. Not a good night for the local lad

 

Scott Grimm vs Dave Mastiff

Mastiff was due to face Wild Boar on the show, but injury put paid to that.  Instead, Mastiff decides he wants a piece of Grimm. This match is just two massive dudes whaling away on each other, with a few choice power moves for good measure. Loved Mastiff getting Grimm up for a rolling fireman’s carry, whilst Grimm’s belly-to-belly suplex on Mastiff was also impressive. After trading nearfalls, they managed to both get disqualified as the referee lost control. The pair had to be separated at the end (including the help of Local Jobber #2, still selling injuries)

 

Terry Seddon vs Sebastian Radclaw

Seddon is Triple X’s resident zombie slayer, primarily due to his physical resemblance to Simon Pegg. Here, he took a break from the undead to take on Radclaw, an interesting character who seemed to be talking to voices in his head. Radclaw looked good, I’d never seen him before, but he was a lot of fun and should fit in well in the Triple X universe. He even managed to get a chant going for his late Uncle Eggbert (who apparently told him to never lose a fight to a ginger man). Midway through, Professot Lex emerged with a zombie for Seddon to fight with, before Radclaw flew over the top rope to take out all three men. Back inside, Seddon finished Radclaw with a big boot and legdrop. Goofy fun

 

Zack Sabre Jr vs Mark Andrews

This match was awesome. ZSJ was positioned as the more experienced, dominant wrestler here, totally schooling Mandrews on the mat and kicking the shit out of him to prevent any kind of comeback. Andrews was great in the underdog role, and used his speed and ariel skills to get some nearfalls on Zack. Everything ZSJ looked great, with his matwork looking like it was killing Andrews, tying him up in knots. I also liked the focus on wanting Andrews to tap-out, following a killer looking cradle Tombstone with another submission focused on the neck. Eventually, Sabre does get the tapout after Andrews misses a 450 splash, but both guys looked immense here.

 

The Henchmen (Benton Destruction & Jim Diehard) vs Slap Dash Tag Team (Chris Brookes & Tyler Bate)

The Henchmen are fucking brilliant. The “80’s legends” are massive, massive men and totally outweighed the Slap Dash Tag Team. Bate in particular was tiny compared to the man mountains. This was a well-worked tag match, where the in-ring action was as successful as the comedy. Brookes and Bate used their speed to initially worked over Destruction, but Bate was soon isolated and worked over as face-in-peril. The Henchmen cut off the ring nicely, and a hot tag was denied by the ref, who didn’t see it following a distraction by Destruction (who literally stood on the apron yelling “I’m causing a distraction”).The Henchmen can move for big guys and looked awesome in domination. The hot tag saw Brookes on fire, until he got caught outside by Destruction, who threw powder into his eyes. In the ring, a recovered Bate hit an amazing deadlift German suplex on Diehard, but was soon outmanned and nailed with the Five Moves of Doom for the Hench win. A victory that was soon to turn sour when Diehard found out about the powder in the eyes, which was the “payoff from Tijuana”. Really fun tag match.

 

Damian Dunne vs Lee Hunter

Clusterfuck saw the Hunters lose to Damian and his brother Pete. With Pete in Japan, we got this singles encounter this month. The main story of the match saw the Hunters constantly swapping place in the ring, swapping a hoodie to indicate to the referee which Hunter should be in the match. The Hunters played up to this brilliantly, highlighted by one Hunter stalking around the ring, hoodie on inside out, crowing “This is too easy”. Though good faces, the Hunters are way better as heels. The match itself was really good, with Damian timing his comebacks nicely. Eventually, Damian got hold of the hoodie and put it on outside the ring, prompting the unsuspecting in-ring Hunter to to try an enlist his help, only to get a pummelling instead. Dunne eventually won a fine match with a springboard Codebreaker

 

Eddie Dennis vs Majik

This was for Majik’s XXX title. Dennis really impressed in an nXXXt match (you cna guess what this is) at the last show and he looked good again here. He’s blessed with a quick wit which allows him to keep up with the comments from the crowd, which was useful to win them over in only his second match in front of this audience. In particular, I liked him joining forces with the crowd to highlight that Majik can’t spell his own name (with Majik stooging magnificently by covering the name on his tights). This was a good main event, with both guys brawling all over the SQ Club and into the crowd. Majik gave Dennis a lot here, only surviving a powerbomb when manager Gabriel Grey stuck his foot on the rope. At one point, Majik threw Dennis into his rival Devilman, who was selling merch outside the ring. The end saw Dennis try another powerbomb, but get distracted by Grey, leading to a Majik lowblow and a roll up to maintain. A Majik post-match assault was thwarted by Devilman making the save. All in all, a terrific night of wrestling